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Close your eyes and wish for the most delicious chicken you’ve ever had.   Look at that.. it came true, cuz that’s what I’m gonna give you.

I wish that you could have been sitting with us to enjoy this delishuuuuus chicken I grilled.. a whole chicken.. that’s right.  Some of you may have heard about the “chicken under a brick” recipe.  I’ve made it before on my stove top, then in the oven…..but this time I decided to try my grill.  It did not dissapoint. The most moist and tender chicken I’ve ever had.  No kidding!

Start with a whole chicken.  Mine was about 3.5 lbs.  Set the chicken, breast side down, on a work surface. Starting at the tail end, cut down 1 side of the backbone, staying as close to the bone as you can. Cut along the other side of the backbone, removing it. (Save the bone for making soup or stock.)  Now, open the chicken and take the heels of your hands and try to flatten and spread it out.

I seasoned it with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and gave it a little massage, all over….  and really, you can use what ever spices you want for your taste.  It’s your world.

In the meantime, while I was attacking my chicken, I had the grill heating up on LOW.. this is key.  I let the grates get really hot.

Here we go…. before you put the chicken on the grill, find yourself a big brick, or two, if you have a bigger chicken.  I was fortunate to have a large patio tile that my husband found for me.  Now, wrap this brick with aluminum foil and give it a coating of oil or I used Pam.  Take the chicken and lay it out in the center of the grill, put the brick on top so it flattens while cooking and close the cover.   Again.. a low temp is key here.  Otherwise, you will get a charred chicken and it will not be cooked through.  Each side took about 1/2 hr to cook and I would turn it the last 1/2 hr.

Tips:
- At the point where I really wanted the chicken to takes its time cooking and not be overwhelmed with the strong heat and not get burned, I put my grill brush at the edge of the grates so when I close  the cover, it would not close completely.
- Before it’s done grilling, you can baste it with your favorite bbq sauce or marinade.
- When know one is looking, you can eat the skin and wings.  (I know, I know; don’t tell my husband)
- Here are a bunch of images from Google that you can reference.

C’mon people.. you can’t tell me that this doesn’t look oh so good.  You can’t and I won’t listen (finger in ears… la la la).

Will you try it?  Is your mouth watering?

As always, THANK YOU for stopping by.  Leave some love.

Judy ♥

Well, hello again. We have an amazing week of weather here.  I’m taking advantage of it a little (ok, a lot) by doing some garage door painting outside and even doing a little art in my garage, where all my art supplies sit.  Well, that’s a lie, really… I’m looking at my art supplies and apologizing to them for not giving them any attention.  Must be Catholic guilt.

This week, another stencil by Jessica Sporn is being tested.  Offered by Stencil Girl Products.  I’m joined by other great artists (links below) to test out the “cascading leaves”.  Stay with me here.

So, I’m trying to figure what I want to do with the stencil.  My art supplies are way back “there” in the garage.. so what can I get to and make this simple?  I was cleaning windows and I noticed that my paper towels had a very cool, and somewhat similar design to the stencil I was testing.  Crazy, right?  or serendipity?  I love the texture of paper towels in my art.

Here’s my garage with my supplies and stuff  Now, look at all that?  That’s what I’m keeping.  Am I crazy?  Ok Ok.. Let’s not go there again.

(Oh, and p.s. if you are local, I will be selling some arts and crafts along with couches, chairs, kitchen table, bookcases… send me an email if you are interested.)

Sorry….back to art…here is the paper towel..

I grabbed my bag of lace and paper stuff, a bottle of red paint, portfolio crayons, Collage Pauge and a paint brush… oh yes and a journal book.

Started by taking a teal crayon (what? where you expecting a different color?)  and rubbed it all over the towel, then I rubbed it with a damp paper towel to blend it a bit.  Then, I drew in each stencil leave openings with a black crayon.  Smooshed around a little.  Did it randomly. Glue it down on journal page.

Now, what.. oh yes.. pack another box to bring downstairs.. move some furniture around.. my dog (Dixie) needs to tinkle.. make travel arrangements for my executive… ok, back to arting on my kitchen table.  Move my dinner plate over to the side and collage a little more.. and don’t get any medium in your chicken. Wait, that might explain something.  No, I kid I kid.

What did I have in my bag that I grabbed?  C’mon Judy, get creative here.  What can I do with only a few supplies?  Ugh… a challenge.  Or as “Inspector Clouseau” would say  ”a shallaaaaange”.

I really had a hard time with this one because I have so much more on my mind other than art.  I felt the deadline approaching, but was committed to the stencil drive.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m worrying about something, I have a hard time focusing on other things.  So, I had a talk with myself and said “self… what is your problem.. art should be good for stress.. get your act together, will ya.. chop chop”?  I had to be a little tough on myself.. geesh.  Can anyone relate??

In processs…

Final…

I will be honest here.. I am not in love with the collage; I’ve done better, in my opinion… but I am in love with Jessica’s stencil.  I can’t wait to use it again and again.

So, go check out the other Stencil Drive artists and see what they did with the stencil.

Jessica Sporn
Nathalie Kalbach
Michelle Rydell
Roben-Marie Smith 

Thank you, Jessica, for inviting me on this stencil journey with you and so many other amazing artists. I’m honored.

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WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

NOW………for the winner of my long, skinny journal….. Congratulations Gloria Zucaro!!!  Yay!!!!  I’ll contact you via email to get your address.

Happy Spring!!!  And thank you for your patience while I get through this massive purge/move. Don’t give up on me.  I”ll keep up my art and post as much as I can.  Your support means the world to me.   I’ll also be on Facebook if you want to follow me.

Judy ♥

The 2nd journal give-a-way winner is…………………..

Kay Wallace

Congratulations, Kay!!!!!!!!!!

Send me your mailing address and I’ll get it right out to you.

Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!

Next up to #3…. is my long skinny journal.  About 9×3. So cute.  Covers are loved with inky stamped and stenciled paper towels and fun embellishments with a lace edge.  Click for close up.

Quick update:  Studio is clean.. newly painted walls.. all my supplies are in the garage.  In the meantime, now that I’m not creating a lot of art (because of this possible uprooting.. wait, did she say “uproot”.. yes I did.  More later), at least I can give some away… it’s a win win situation.. you win art.. I clean out my studio. Pay it forward; it’s how I roll.

Thanks for playing along and stopping by…. This is fun!!!

Leave me a comment.. I”ll pick a winner next week.

Judy ♥

Kathy Abraham….. congratulations!!!!   send me your address at judysheart@gmail.com and I’ll get it right out to you.. and of course I have some other goodies to add to it.  How excited are you?

Ok.. ready for the next give away?   It’s this handmade journal.  Here is how I made it.  But below, is how it came out in the end.  With handmade polymer clay “button n’bellishments” and the paper beads on the edge.

1, 2, 3 go………..

Thanks for stopping by and please pray for Boston that they catch the 2nd bomber brother. PLEASE CATCH HIM!!!!!

Judy ♥

Speaking of Spring, let’s talk about Spring cleaning, shall we?  Specifically, my art studio. I said to myself.. “self, you are gonna get this studio into shape and you’re gonna purge your heart out”.  So, I began the process last weekend.  Put on my Bruno Mars CD and got to work.  Where do I begin? It was so overwhelming, to say the least.  Really, I’m being honest.  Why do I have so much stuff?  Why did I have a plastic elephant and an old tampon box.. why I ask you… why? That’s it, no more incoming supplies or junk will enter my studio. I have vowed to buy NO MORE ART SUPPLIES unless Jeffrey Dean Morgan tells me to.  I kid I kid.

And.. magazines and books?  Fuhgeddaboudit!  Too many that have been collected.  Well, time to donate and throw away.  I filled up my car and brought a load down to our local recycle station.  What a good feeling.  But, hey, I’m not even done.  I have more to go through. I’m sick.  I admit it. There I said it. I feel better now.  C’mon who’s with me here? Feel the same way?

I am ripping down the wallpaper (ahem.. clear throat here), I should say my husband is taking down the paper and we’ll paint the room (I hate painting).  C’mon, Judy snap out of it.. chop chop.

Another reason I”m doing this is …. we may be selling the house.  We’ve been thinking about it for the past several years.  So, this is what we need to do. Prepare.  They say that selling a house is one of the most stressful things you can do… right up there next to divorce.  Well, I say if I can get through this process without clobbering hubbie on the noggin, I don’t have to worry about the latter.

Why am I sharing my boring story with you?  Well, there is a reason.  As I go through some of my art projects and supplies, I realized what better way to share a piece of me than by giving it away.

Sooooooooooo, what that being said.. I’m having a GIVE-A-WAY!

My first give-a-way will be this journal I made with Jessica Sporn’s Starry Night stencil with Stencil Girl Products.

You can see how I made the journal here.

So, you ready?  Leave a comment here and like this post on Facebook; and I’ll select a winner by Friday, April 19th.

I’ll do a few of these give a ways as the weeks go on.  They’ll either be art supplies, ephemera or smaller fun works of mine.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  If you have any suggestions for organizing, please let me know. I would love to hear about what you’ve done.

Judy ♥

As most of you who follow me know,  I love to collect coasters from restaurants.  Sometimes, our server is nice enough to give me a stash of them.. .but I do ask beg them nicely.  I love working small sometimes.  It’s just such a nice little piece of art.  The coaster surface is really great; it absorbs wonderfully and has the right thickness.

First, let me show you the stencil I”ll be working with… I’m going to use the top right church window. Seems appropriate for an angel, don’t you think?  Jessica really created a beautiful stencil here.

I picked out a 4″x4″ rounded corner coaster and started to apply gesso.   Let dry. Then I applied some random colors and smooshed with my fingers.

I pulled off some of the paint with another piece of paper.. this tip came from Jane Davies; simple and effective.  Then used a brayer to blend the colors.

When I started to dry the paint with my heat gun, I started to get bubbles which is a very cool effect.  If you hold the heat gun very close, the paint starts to bubble.  Once I got the colors the way I wanted, I brushed a loose wash of acrylic teal paint with water on top and spritzed some alcohol on it to let the paint separate.  Can you see the texture it created?

Now, I know I wanted to put an angel on my coaster, but I needed her face to show through, so I put a light coat of Titan Buff fluid acrylic paint (from Golden) in the section where her face would show.

Now, it’s time to transfer my image onto the coaster. I printed off the angel image on the rough side of a transparency film (ink jet printer). I took gel medium and with my finger, rubbed some along the section where I wanted my angel.  I also put some on the image itself.  Laid down the image and gently rubbed with a soft cloth.  Wait a couple of minutes, then gently lift it off. There you go… I like that it’s NOT perfect.. it has a worn/vintage look to it.  Now, let her dry.. doesn’t take too long; about 5 minutes.

Oh boy.. I get to play with pastes.  I used the Viva Decor Modeling Cream in gold for the window.
I placed it over the angel’s face, taped it down on one side.  Using my palette knife, I scraped the cream over the stencil and lifted it up… Beautiful window.

Now, one of the panes was covering my angel’s face.. I had to gently scrape it off.  There she is.. so purdy.

I added my spiral lace paper in the corner and used a pen tube as a stamp for some small circles.  Added gold ribbon lace to the bottom of the window.

I found an old earring that I cut up with a wire cutter to make a window top.  When I cut the metal, it creates tiny rough metal edges; so I filed them down with a Chizzel-it.  I’ve had this for years.  I used it for engraving baked polymer clay.  Oh, who am I kidding.. it was just a fun toy.  You can also use 200 grit sand paper to file down the sharp edges.

I added some glitter and painted around the edges with a Gold Leafing Pen. I love this pen.  It’s puts the best finishing touches on your work.

I added a “believe” metal tag to the bottom.  After all, we DO believe in angels, don’t we?  Then I added some red lines of acrylic paint with my credit card that I changed to white in the end result… you’ll see why.

To the right of the coaster, I added handmade polymer clay flowers in red with turquoise (what else) rhinestone centers. Then teenie tiny flowers to the bottom of the stems.  The leaves are made with music paper. I thought the dragonfly was a cute touch, too.

Here is the final piece and a close up of window.

Now, it’s your turn to go visit my art sisters to see what they did with Jessica’s new stencil… go now!

Jessica Sporn, our leader in this drive.
Carolyn Dube  (by the way, Carolyn has a new Gelli Plate Workshop starting on April 1st… what fun; I can’t wait!)
Maria McGuire
Corrine Gilman (Corrine is going to be teaching at Lucky Star Art Camp this Fall… they are so “lucky” to have her join their team).

AND…Thank you, Jessica for another amazing stencil creation.  What else to you have up your sleeve?  Hmmm?

Well, there you have it.  So, grab some coasters next time you go out (or have a friend grab one for you) and get creative with them.  Then, send me a picture and I’ll feature on my blog.  OR.. create it, put photo on your blog, then comment on my blog with your link back to your blog… Huh?  What the hell did she just say?  Go on… you can do it… I know you can.

Alert… Alert… Up Next:  Giveaways !!

Thank you for stopping by.  Share the love.

Judy ♥

I’ve been working on this video for a few weeks. I finally found the time to finish it.  I started out as a large pamphlet I got in the mail.  I thought it would be neat to alter it with some mixed media magic. Once I finished filming, this sucker was about 45 min long.  So, had to cut it down a little and fast forward a lot.  I put some comments in so you would know what I was doing.   Let me know what you think.

If you have any questions about my process, give me a shout.. glad to help.

Now… enjoy!

Here are some close ups.

If you  live in New England or even Massachusetts, you probably are ready for Spring like the rest of us. We’ve had enough snow this winter and I’m ready for a nice long walk… I don’t know… Maybe late April?

I hope you enjoyed the video.  Love to hear back from you.

Judy ♥

Here I am again, going for another test drive with Jessica Sporn’s new stencils that she’s created and are now sold on Stencil Girl Products. I love what my friend, Jessica, has created and by now, I think many of the stencils she’s made have new owners and they are creating beautiful art with them.  Like, this week, check out the other artists taking this stencil for a drive Marjie Kemper,  Nataša May, Maggie Nemetz and Maria Mcguire. This week we are testing Jessica’s “borders” stencils.  I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do with them… something different. So, I ended up making polymer clay bookmarks.  How, you say?  Well.. lookie there.. here is a video on how I made them.

Post Video Comment:  My friend, Raine, who is a great polyclay artist, mentioned that the reason why I had gritty raised edges was because of the leather texture.  Ah, DUH MOMENT, JUDY!!! Of course it was.  I’ve always used texture plates with clay, never stencils. So, when I put the clay against the leather, that’s why it was rough, because of the tiny pattern on the leather.  There you have it. I digress.  Thanks, Raine.   Don’t mind me, I’m in my own little world over here.

Some close ups of the final bookmarks… click pictures for a closer look.

Don’t foget to check out what  Marjie Kemper,  Nataša May, Maggie Nemetz and Maria Mcguire did with their stencils.  I’m going there now.

I hope you enjoyed the video and the bookmarks.  They make great gifts.

Thanks for stopping by. I love hearing from you.

Judy ♥

For those that follow me, you know I try to make my recipes fast and simple.  With my full-time job, who’s got time for long drawn out preparations? I don’t.  Here’s one you’ll hopefully love.

Today, I decided to make a chili with chunky vegetables and ground chicken.  If you are a vegetarian, you can completely leave out the chicken. It’s just as great without it.

Let’s go….

Ingredients:

1 pkg ground chicken
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
1/2 of a large onion or 1 small
1 red pepper
about 6 white mushroom caps.
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, plus 1/2 of another
2 cans of beans.  I used one kidney and one black.  Use what you want.  Rinsed and strained.
2 TBLSPN olive oil for pan

Cut all the veggies the same size; about a 1/2 inch thick.  You want this chili to be chunky and full of love.

In a large sauce pan, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add ground chicken.  Medium high heat; Cook until no longer pink.

Add all the veggies in the pan and stir and mix it all together.  Cook this on medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or until the onion and veggies have all softened.  Can you see the difference in the pictures, above?  CLICK FOR LARGER VIEW.

Add your can and a half of the tomatoes, stir, then add the beans which have been rinsed in cold water through a strainer.  Incorporate all the beans into the sauce.  I started with one can of beans, but then decided to add another. Why not, right?

Now, for seasonings:  Salt, pepper, granulated garlic, chili powder and ground cumin.  ALL TO YOUR TASTE.  Add more or less of what you like.  I end up with about a tablespoon or more of the chili powder and the garlic. Then add in the cumin as you like.  If you want some heat, then add a little cayenne pepper.. start small. Keep testing the taste to see what it may be missing.  It’s always better to under season, you can always add it.. but don’t over season, you can’t take it out.

Now, if you can wait, let this simmer gently about 30 minutes.. if you can’t wait… GO FOR IT.. It’s your world.

Serve this hot with some grated sharp cheddar cheese and some tortilla chips.  I used blue ones .   Just scooping the chili onto some chips with a little melted chese just makes your mouth so happy.  The corn, crunch, cheese and chili together.. oh my.   I have issues.. I watch too much FoodTV Network. Guy Fieri would be proud.

Notes: Now, this chili is practically fat free.. the only fat in there is from the olive oil.  I also used Sargento Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese, but only because that was my choice. I draw the line on completely fat free products, however.. no taste in my opinion.  This recipe will serve about 6 people.  Save the leftovers for another day or mix in some cooked pasta for another meal.  Freeze the rest, if you want.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe.  Stay warm if you are experiencing the cold like us.  This will do the trick.  ENJOY!

Thanks for stopping by. I love hearing from you. Let me know if you tried this recipe and how it came out.

Judy ♥

…. and that’s exactly what I did this morning…… follow me, will you?

I recently purchased something that was contained in this long box.  I decided to recycle it … I could do something with it… right.. something for the art studio???  I think so.            CLICK ANY PICTURE FOR A CLOSER LOOK.

I gessoed all over.  If I were to do it again, I would sand the sheen off. But, a couple of coats; wait til each coat dries.  Tip: sand the box first.

Then, I used up my Gelli Prints I had done over the past couple of months.  See my posts/videos HERE and HERE.  Measured, cut and glued.

I used Martha Stewart’s Decoupage Glue and Sealer.  I had it in the studio, so I do not favor it, really.

One the sides were glued down well, I scraped the edges with a scissors blade to get rid of the excess paper coming over the edges.

Then I used Pan Pastels to fill in any white spaces.

It’s coming along.

Took a rubber coaster and used it as a stamp (dots) with some Staz On black ink.  Then I used Distress Ink (walnut stain) to rub along the edges of the box to stain it or vintage-ize it (I made up that word).

Not shown here, but I added some stamping around with black ink.  Painted a text stamp with white acrylic paint and stamped all over.  I also took some brown and orange paint mixed and filled in some of the corners of the box.

Ok.. now I must put some “buttons n’bellishments” on there, don’t ya think?  What to choose, what to choose.

Then on the back.. I think a big face.  Yes?

I put a coat of the Martha Stewart sealer on one side and Liquid Laminate on the other.  The MS sealer had tiny bubbles and dried that way.  No big deal, but wasn’t crazy about it.  The Liquid Laminate was, as always, great.  Nice thin coat that dries fast.

Ok, now it’s done.. what shall I use it for?  It won’t take anything to heavy, I had to think light.  I decided to use it for my smaller stencils and Gelli Print bookmarks I made. I LOVE! I LOVE!

I love what embellishments do for an art piece.  My online “Buttons n’bellishments” workshop is over and I’ll be sharing the student results very soon, along with a Flickr group.

If you want to see what else you can alter/recycle with your Gelli Prints.. Check out Carolyn’s Heart Boxes and Corrine’s binder along with Jessica’s pasta box recycle.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Leave some love.. I love hearing from you.

Judy ♥